Review

2013 was a quiet year for SpaceGhostPurrp. After announcing his retirement from the “shady ass rap game” in the latter portion of 2012, he ultimately left it up to his fans to decide whether or not he would continue upon his mystical quest of setting fire and scoring the riches of the modern rap game (but not before dropping the grimy B.M.W. (Black Man’s Wealth) mixtape). Run it back to the present and it looks like the fans triumphed, as SGP is back (max combo’ing the “SpaceGhost” portion of his name to the grave and resurrecting solely as “Purrp”) with the piping hot, trap-heavy sequel to B.M.W. With Intoxxxicated, SpaceGhostPurrp’s dizzying and hypnotic sense of atmosphere, an attribute that’s always kept him singular amongst the current echelon of hip hop producers, and smudged, dead pan flow are all still in-tact, composed around the absurd and turbulent qualities of the DatPliff zip file.

SpaceGhostPurp spawns his foreboding sonic landscape of howling ambulance sirens and imminent train horns immediately into your ear on the introduction, bringing to mind pictures of burning inner-city slums as he towers above the ruins in his smoky fortress above. It’s from here where SGP announces, “pop a pill, snort some coke, smoke a fat ass blunt, get ***ed up, get some alcohol and get drunker than a mu***a, and blast the music”, as he detonates heat bombs in the form of tight, hoe-smackin’ trap beats that lace Intoxxxicated to your ear drums like a snug pair of raider black high tops. The 100% stacker starved approved ‘Ride 4 Me’ boasts warped electro chords and various tangled electronic wires behind them, as SGP rides the beat of this arcade style fight-to-the-deaf banger. This darkness ascends on ‘Who I Be’, as slowed and indistinguishable ghetto chants ride a phaser effect that backs SGP’s whispery candlelit flow, before a sudden drive-by renders the track silent; forcing the verse that follows to wipe the blood away and creep through the night alone.

Later on it becomes increasing evident that, much like previous releases have exposed, SpaceGhostPurrp is a producer first and rapper second. Unfortunately his flow stumbles and struggles to keep up on a number of verses (ie: the underwhelming cuts ‘That Good’ and ‘My Phone’). However where his flow lacks he makes up for it within his emphasis of atmosphere and maximized sampling chaos, highlighted by a number of stand-out tracks. The first of these is the mystical phonk of ‘Addicted’, channeling SGP stapled Mortal Kombat samples (a heart-ripping fatality and otherworldly teleport humming) that accents his bizarre story a girl ensnared within his spectral presence. Everything’s workin’ on ‘OwwwL’, displaying a blazing whirlwind of hi-hats and scepter wielding electronics that eventually generates haunting use of auto-tune in its descending hook. However Intoxxxicated’s finest moment lies within the title track, featuring a gorgeous swirling drone that drenches the bass boasted mix, surrounded in darkness, in a whimsical silhouette of flashing neon and slow motion jewelry.

To understand where SpaceGhostPurrp’s headspace is with Intoxxxicated he gets remarkably real on ‘Mack Named Purrp Pt. 2’, to the point where he strips himself of any rhyme or lyricism, and goes on a stream of conscious confession. “It ain't even worth trying in this ***, you feel me. All I'm trying to say is, this *** is easy” he admits, which explains both his recent absence and distain for the current rap game; he’d rather drop off the world than be associated with it. It also says that Intoxxxicated is, with a few exceptions, the sound of an artist on auto-pilot; the entrance into the mind of a man so versed and naturally gifted within this sound that its creation has become effortless. Both contextually and on the surface, Intoxxxicated can be seen essentially as a high volume, testosterone fueled soundtrack for drug fevered partying and shady deviant acts of the night. However elusive it may be to those who, like I, are waiting for something more poignant and far reaching from SpaceGhostPurrp, it should be said that perhaps this gritty, beastly, and carefree sound is the only place he wants to be. And when you leave your expectations at the neon drenched, blood stained velvet door that is Intoxxxicated; its rewards lay within your own ability to stop caring and lose yourself.